Half to l



(No Model.)

H. E. FOWLER.

POLISHING WHEEL.

No. 373,653. Patented Nov. 22, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERBERT E. FOWLER, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR OF ONE HALF TO L. N. BLYDENBURGH, OF SAME PLACE.

POLISHING -WHEEL.

SPECIFICATION i'oz'ming part of Letters Patent No. 373,653, dated November 22, 1867.

Application filed December 27, 1886. Serial No. 222,533. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERBERT E. FOWLER, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new Improvementin Polishing-Wheels; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,

and which said drawings constitute part ofthis specification, and represent, in-

Figure 1, a longitudinal central section through the wheel; Fig. 2, a face end view.

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of polishing-wheels which are composed of flexible material, so as to present a soft or yielding fibrous surface to the article presented thereto.

In the more general construction of this class of wheels numerous circular disks are cut from cloth-usually cotton-and these disks are placed upon a concentric shaft between two collars or heads of smaller diameter than the disks of fibrous material, and are clamped by these collars so as to be held firmly upon the shaft, and so that thewheel thus produced will revolve with the shaft. The fibrous disks project outside the periphery of the collars and present a fibrous periphery for the polish- 0 ing-wheel. The collars or heads are necessarily large in proportion to the disks of fibrous material in order to properly support the disks.

In the use of this class of polishing-wheels 3 5 the wear is rapid, and, as the wheel cannot be used to a point inside the periphery of the collars, it follows that there is a very considerable waste of material. Another difficulty in the use of this class of wheels arises from the liability of bringing the work to be polished accidentally into contact with the collars, such contact unavoidably injuring the surface or article being polished.

These wheels are expensive because of the 5 great amount of time required in cutting out the disks and arranging them between the collars.

The object of my invention is to overcome the difiiculties experienced in the use of this 59 class of wheels, as well as to produce the wheel at very much less cost; and my invention consists in a wheel composed of a head concentric with the driving-shaft, having the fibrous material applied thereto substantially parallel with the axis of the head, and so as to project from the head in such parallel direction and present a free polishing-edge in a plane substantially at right angles to the axis of revolution.

In producing my improved polishing-wheel I prefer to employ a long strip ofsuitable fabri csay, as coarse muslin, cantonfiannel, or felt-tl1e width of the strip in accordance with the size or requirements of the wheel.

A represents the head, which is provided with a suitable socket, B, by which it may be secured to the revolving shaft. Onto the periphery of this head one end of the strip is secured, preferably close to one edge of the strip, and so that the strip will project from the face of the head, as seen in Fig. 1. Then the strip is wound around the head in successive convolutions until the required size or body of polishingsurface is attained. The strip is then secured to the head in any suitable manner, may be by nails, or it may be glued in the process of winding. This completes the wheel. The central portion of the wheel is open, the fibrous material presenting a concentric ring of polishingsurface in a plane at right angles to the axis.

The head is applied to the shaft and caused to rapidly revolve, as in the usual construction of this class of wheels; butinstead of pre* senting the polishing-surface parallel with the axis, as in the usual construction, the free edge of the strip is employed, and in aplane at right angles to the axis. In this construction the labor ofcutting out the disks is avoided,and the waste consequent upon such cutting is also avoided. In the case of wheels of this construction, a much greater extent of acting-surface is brought upon the article than can be in a cylindrical wheel, for the reason that whereas in a cylindrical wheel the attack of the wheel is at a point only, without any considerable extent of bearing, in my improved wheel the article to be polished,being placed against the wheel in a plane at right angles to the axis, will be covered by a large plane of the actingsurface of the wheel. Again, in the useof my improved wheel the liability of bringing the article into contact with the clamping-collars is avoided. Again, the amount of material required to secure the strip to the head is very much less than that portion of the disks which stand within the collars. Consequently, there is less waste or loss of material applied to the wheel.

The open center of the wheel leaves a clear space, so that the work to be polished maybe,

run acrossthering-like polishing-surface, the central space permitting the dust and fiberto escape, and in the case of a moist polishing material it avoids clogging at the center, as it would do were the center solid fiber or closed.

I have mentioned only a fibrous material as cloth, 850.; but it will be'understood that the usual materials employed in this class of wheels for polishing purposes may be applied in this wheel.

I am aware that it is common to form a polishing-wheel by winding a strip of material upon a cylindrical body; but I am not aware that a polishing-wheel has been made consisting of a head with a strip of fibrousmaterial of greater width than the thickness of the head wound upon and secured to the head so as to leave the several convolutions projecting from the head parallel with the axis free and flexible, which is the essential feature of my invention. I-claim- The hereindescribed-polishing-wheel, consisting of a concentric head, combined with a strip of flexible fibrous material, of greater width than the thickness of the head, wound upon the head in-successive convolutions, the said convolutions secured to the head only, so as to leave the remainder of the strip projecting from the said head in the direction of the axis of the head, the said convolutions in their projection in the head being free and independent of each other and so as to retain their natural flexibility, substantially as described.

HERBERT E. FOWLER. 

